Wednesday, May 21, 2008

The great Trivandrum slang

Entheredey.. Some Keralaites who do not belong to Trivandrum mockingly say that Trivandrum has an extra day in a week.. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,.....Sunday, Enthereday.. Trivandrumites have a bad reputation primarily for their slang. Frankly, I have not found it to be odd. It is just another way of speaking malayalam..

My wife belongs to Trichur where they " sing "as they speak. A person who is not from the Trichur belt feels that they are conducting a ganamela. Fortunately, my wife does not sing that much. In the early days of my career , for a few months, I worked in Calicut and Manjeri.. The kind of Malayalam they speak there is totally different.. For everything they say " Kazhichillayi".. means that problem has been solved.. At first, I did not understand what they meant by that. When I used to go to shops and take out my stock of " entharu" , they used to laugh. When you go further north to Kannur, everything becomes " Enakku". Kasargode has a totally different version of Malayalam- MalKannada-- 65% Kannanda and 35% Malayalam. The only person from Kasargode whom I have seen speaking decipherable Malayalam is actress Kavya Madhavan. In Ernakulam, Alwaye belt they even call guys the age of their son " chetta".. " chetta ee auto poneyaana". The Achayan malayalam in the Kottayam, Pala, Pathanamthitta area comprises of " Oh Enna venam...".

I can agree to the fact that there are different slangs spoken in different parts of the state. I can also agree to the fact that Trivandrumites do not speak the text book malayalam. But what I cannot agree to is mocking of the Trivandrum version by others as if they are speaking some great Malayalam. Everyone claims that their version of Malayalam is the best. Trivandrum is the state capital and definitely the melting pot of different cultures. So we may have more words in our dictionary. Typical films have a version of Malayalam that is spoken in Palaghat-Ottapalam and people claim that it is the pure form of Malayalam. Personally, I don't believe so.Only few Malayalam films have the Trivandrum slang spoken by the heroes and one we had recently, Rajamanikayam was the biggest blockbuster of our times. When I went to the theatre, I found some non Trivandrumites thoroughly enjoying the movie quite ironically for the slang.Our media and filmmakers have painted Trivandrum Malayalam in such a way that any kind will laugh at us.

I hail from Trivandrum.. I am proud to speak my slang.. Of course I do not speak to a stranger in Thrissur with my usual phrases like " Entharadey", " povuve" etc etc not because I am ashamed but just because I am showing some courtesy.. I am not claiming that Trivandrum language is the best Malayalam version . But others should also realize that their version also have their defects.. But I would like to add what my wife says to me " Trivandrum language is the coolest version of Malayalam". Yup,maybe we are less formal...

6 comments:

Nice read... I agree with all your points but for "But others should also realize that their version also have their defects..".. would like to see them as styles than defects... and celebrate the diversity that we have within our own kochu keralam... cheers

Sir, even Trivandrum-ites agree that the trivandrum accent or dialect is the worst of the lot. In my many years there, I also realised that the language is more aggressive and abusive than the rest of Kerala. yes, the language in the Central districts of Kerala is so much better. Let us accept reality.

The northern part of Kottayam district and eastern parts of Ernakulam district. ....and malayalees of Idukki district have the best malayalm slang. Typical malayalam films use this slang. There is only less than 5% defects in this slang